My personal favourite First Doctor story takes us to a rather unique Big Finish series that in actuality has a stronger tie-in with Classic Who than any other audio series. The Lost Stories is a series of audio adaptations of scripts that were considered for production in Classic Who before ultimately being shelved for various reasons. I don’t exactly view The Lost Stories as canon so to speak, but more of a glimpse into an alternate history of what could’ve been had things worked out differently. Which brings us to their special edition of the First Doctor’s lost stories and the main one of this box set being the near four-hour epic Farewell Great Macedon, which was a story originally planned for the first season so to experience this story brought to life feels like stumbling across ancient, buried treasure.

The story sees the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara land in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon as they’re just in time to meet Alexander the Great as he prepares to enter the city of Babylon. But as they grow to become close friends with Alexander over time, Barbara begins to despair at her foreknowledge of events; for Alexander visited Babylon twice in his life and if this were his second visit then it would mean only one thing, Alexander the Great was about to die.

This was scripted by Moris Farhi, one of only two written contributions he made to Doctor Who and neither of which was used in the show. He started off by being given a test script to write, a single part episode called The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance, the second story of the box set. After that he was commissioned to write Farewell Great Macedon, according to his book it was never approved as the show was moving more towards science fiction than historical stories. Which seems a bit of an odd reason as Season 1 had a perfect balance between historical and sci-fi stories. If you ask me, I think the reason they rejected it is because producing it probably would’ve bankrupted the BBC! Farewell Great Macedon is basically Doctor Who’s version of a biblical epic, the scale and scope of this is incredible going by the descriptions from the narration, which is one of the best narrated works I’ve heard in any Big Finish narrated audio. A dual effort from William Russell and Carole Ann Ford in their first work together since The Dalek Invasion of Earth, both of them do a wonderful job seamlessly switching roles in narrating and voicing the various characters while making each character stand out and be easily distinguished. Accompanying them is one of Big Finish’s main writers and occasional actor John Dorney who delivers an outstanding performance as Alexander the Great. The writing, the narration and Dorney’s performance all lend beautifully to capturing the tragedy of Alexander the Great’s final days, or at least in a heavily romanticised way. I can’t claim to know much about Alexander’s life and granted this was written in the early 60s so I think it’s safe to say that there are probably a lot of inaccuracies or at least things that aren’t considered true today as they may have been at the time it was written.

The real heart of this story comes from our leads growing attached to a huge historical figure and futilely struggling against the weight of history as they contemplate trying to save the life of their newfound friend. Which is delivered beautifully in the final part which nearly brought me to tears.

It’s such a shame that this never made it to TV, whatever the reason you might believe for its rejection. There’re about three six-part stories in Season 1 I’d have swapped for this in a heartbeat. Had this been made it would hands-down have been William Hartnell’s best outing as the Doctor. If you’re a fan of the First Doctor, then this is a must listen.

In Farewell, Great Macedon, Big Finish have done an amazing job at recreating a Hartnell historical. Even though it is merely three actors – William Russell, Carole Ann Ford and John Dorney (as Alexander) – they evoke the atmosphere of the first season of Who effortlessly. The script has echoes of Marco Polo, The Aztecs and The Crusade with the TARDIS crew fulfilling similar roles as they do in those stories – the clearest being Barbara’s position as the ‘expert’ stemming from her history teacher background. Indeed, Alexander himself is reminiscent of characters like Marco Polo and King Richard – a real person with shades of grey; neither good nor evil.

The story plays as a real tragedy with the unavoidable death of Alexander at the close of the story but also with the systematic dispatching of Alexander’s nearest and dearest, the blame – unsurprisingly – being placed on the strangers in Alexander’s camp.

The main plot of the conspiracy to murder Alexander and take power seems based on actual theories that Alexander was poisoned in real life. The majority of characters are based on real people: Antipater, Ptolemy, Hepheastion, Cleitus.

The setting of the Babylon, and the TARDIS’s landing place of the Hanging Gardens allows the series to tick off another of the ‘famous’ landmarks of history – as only Bernice Summerfield had visited Babylon prior to this point.

This is much philosophy in the script. There is discussion of Socrates statement that ‘I know that I don’t know’ and how the world is full of mysteries – nicely foreshadowing when Alexander realises that the TARDIS crew have knowledge beyond the bounds of his world and time’s experience. There is also a reasoned discussion from Ian of the rights and wrongs of slavery (which contrasts with an over-emotive one argued by Jason Kane in the Bernice Summerfield audio, Walking to Babylon).

The stock scenes of historical ‘epics’ such as this are present and correct – feasts, whispering conspiracy behind pillars, gardens, ‘gladiatorial’ games and aspects of Greek life are dropped in here and there. There is quite an emphasis too on Alexander’s dream of a united world, reflected in the diversity of characters – Indians and Africans for example, and highlighted by Alexander’s toast to the Greek, Egyptian and Persian gods.

I wonder how much of the original script made it through to the Big Finish version. There is such an overwhelming feel of Season 1 in the production – Susan mentions the 57th century; the Doctor gets Ian’s surname wrong. The latter of these feels like a modern inclusion, the first a hangover from the early days of the series (the pilot episode included a line about the Doctor and Susan originating in the 57th century).

There is also a fascinating discussion at the beginning of the first episode about Heaven. Susan believes the TARDIS to have landed there but the Doctor dismisses her. Not, however, because he doesn’t believe in such a place, but because he doesn’t yet know the way. He ponders that one day the Almighty will take him to the afterlife and there is no question that the Doctor and Susan’s culture believes in an afterlife and indeed the implication is that is a Christian idealogy. I wonder if, had this been made for television, this section would have been removed as not tying in with the educational aspect of the series. I cannot think of a single Hartnell story where there is any suggestion the Doctor is religious at all, let alone a Christian.

There are also subtle hints towards the relationship between Alexander and Hepheastion. It is not described as love in the sexual or romantic way but Alexander’s reaction to his death is far more extreme than to any of the other deaths. This is something that probably could have made it to screen – especially seeing as the early series did not shy away from sexually implicit situation – Vasor’s treatment of Barbara or the domestic violence hinted at in The Keys of Marinus, for example – and these were relatively explicit compared to the restraint shown in the script for this story.

The story does take time to tell a tale which could comfortably fitted into four episodes, but in reflecting the era this story was originally written for, the extended length is another echo. At no point does it feel padded but there are times when the pace slows to a leisurely stroll.

The final episodes of the story include the entertaining image of the Doctor firewalking to prove his integrity to Alexander, followed by Ian besting various athletes at wrestling. Ian as the action man is, again, very reminiscent of the early series but I do wonder how many other talents he has hidden under his bushel.

The last part of the story also includes some interesting discussion as to whether history can be changed. Barbara believes they can do nothing but it is the Doctor who decides he will do all in his power to save Alexander’s life. Even after Susan points out that his death at this time is historical fact, the Doctor holds to his Hippocratic oath taken when he briefly studied medicine. This is a contrast to the positions Barbara and the Doctor take in The Aztecs. Apparently Farewell, Great Macedon was being written whilst Marco Polo was airing on television, meaning The Aztecs had yet to go into production. Maybe these roles would have been reversed in light of that story’s central theme.

Farewell, Great Macedon is simply marvellous and a jewel in Big Finish’s crown. This is a historical story as valid as anything transmitted on television and should stand shoulder to shoulder with the greats of that era.

Un-made Doctor Who stories are always interesting - a lot of the time you can tell why they might not have been produced (and sometimes that it was a good thing they weren't!); but sometimes you get something incredibly special. Both stories in the first Lost Stories First Doctor Boxset are special; but Farewell, Great Macedon is really quite remarkable. The production by Big Finish is also good - especially considering that its one of their longer stories at over four hours.

This is a true historical that fits well with the others from the first season of Doctor Who. It is based around the last days of Alexander the Great; around a plot from a number of people in his court to kill him and his heirs in order to take power in the Macedonian Empire for themselves; and is excellently paced throughout with some very good cliffhangers. It manages to stand out narratively speaking from the other true historicals at that time - one example of this is that unlike the other stories the TARDIS crew aren't prisoners forced to stay in the time they are in: other than a brief period where they are accused of Hephisteon's death (where Alexander never truly believes them to be the culprits) they are theoretically free to go but want to spend time with Alexander.

John Dorney's portrayal of Alexander is very good: he gets him across as someone that can inspire loyalty and emotion; while also being difficult at times. Considering the small size of the cast (this being the period where First doctor Big Finish stories weren't full cast - unfortunate as a full cast version of this could have been excellent) this is key - William Russell does a good job as Ian (and his First Doctor works as well - although not as good as others); and Carole-Ann Ford as Susan and Barbara also works. The sound design is brilliant - I listened while watching the TV series and while it's clearly a modern production it doesn't feel that out there relative to the TV shows. The end of the story is very emotional - Alexander going to his own death and refusing the help of the Doctor and Ian; the immediate collapse of the Empire that he built and the death of a dream of world unity worked very well.

There are a few points that might be negatives - I think there's a risk that stories like this may white-wash some not great periods in history (but then again; this is remarkably accurate for a Doctor Who historical); and this story had religious overtones at times that felt out of place for even 60s Doctor Who (and I understand there were even more removed from the draft script) and the format of three actors + narration might not click for everyone - but if it does and you like your early Doctor Who this is a must listen.

I struggle with narrated lost stories but this one is amazing

An absolutely phenomenal historical story. It does almost everything right. It lets you experience a historical period, teaches you something new about that era and the people involved and makes it personal for both you and the characters involved.

It is surprisingly lengthy, but that length never feels padded. Alexander is well established and the cast interacts with their surroundings in interesting ways. It is just plain fun, and a very good example of how pure historical should be done.

It benefits from its audio roots. It can go up in scale without fluffing the story up. It also performed really well. Special props to John Dorney, who plays an impressively convincing Alexander. His speech at the end about Alexanders ambitions is phenomenal, and a true highlight for this season.

It’s funny, for as long as it is and how much I enjoyed it, I don’t really have much to say about it. Maybe that’s because it feels like it sets a standard. An incredibly solid base that future stories could take note from. That probably won’t be done, because the pure historical died out, and this story was recorded years later. Still, if the show ever decides to pick the historical back up, there would be way worse inspirations than this one.

The only nitpicks I have with it are minor. Barbara knows history, but stays quiet for quite a while, which doesn’t really make sense. Also the members of the conspiracy group have similar sounding names, and without each having a distinct voice actor, they kind of blend together. Still, these are minor and don’t really detract from the story. Which is a masterpiece.

Wow, what an audio. Sitting at one of Big Finish's longest audios this may seem like a daunting task but if you have a spare 4 hours I would wholeheartedly recommend you settle down and enjoy this magnificent audio.

Whilst I'm not the biggest fan of William Russell as 1 you can overlook his slightly weaker impersonation compared to Purves as it doesn't detract that much from the overall listening experience.

However, the standout performance from this audio has to be John Dorney as Alexander. How one man can be such a good writer and actor will never cease to amaze me but in this audio he gives the performance of his life. A performance that is filled with such nuance and depth. A performance that moved me to the verge of tears. I would say this is one of the best performances I've ever heard in an audio.

Overall, this is a fantastic audio if recommend to anyone.